This disclosure relates to fabrication of nanocellular articles.
Inorganic materials structured on the nanoscale often have enhanced chemical and physical properties that can find application in a number of fields. Nanocellular materials, such as porous metal foams, can be used in filters, electrodes, catalysts, refractory articles or other applications.
There are a number of methods for fabricating nanocellular materials. For example, metallic nanocellular materials can be fabricated using combustion synthesis, metal dealloying or sol-gel processing with supercritical drying. While chemical synthesis such as the sol-gel method may be useful, these techniques can be relatively complex and involve processing of numerous chemical intermediates, including but not limited to oxides that require thermochemical reduction of the oxide to the desired metal.